The application of corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions for mitigation of environmental, social, corporate governance (ESG) and reputational risk in integrated reports

Abstract Many studies stress the importance of understanding actions within sustainable development to prevent risks brought by companies. Environment, social factors, corporate governance (ESG) as well as reputation are even more important risk factors. In turn, companies can take corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions to avoid ESG and reputational risk. The aim of the article is to analyze the role of CSR in risk mitigation. The study includes content analysis of integrated reports in terms of reporting information on both risk and CSR activities such as stakeholder engagement or environmental policy. The companies most often indicate governmental risk, followed by social risk. The most common CSR actions are those related to social impact. Despite the fact that the analyzed database of over 120 integrated reports is not fully homogeneous, the conducted research shows a statistically important correlation in categorization of risks and CSR actions. Both statistical analysis and analysis of the content of reports confirms that companies identify their ESG and reputational risks and use CSR actions to mitigate them.